Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Can anyone offer suggestions for buying a good upright in Thailand? From what I can tell the best place to buy a piano is Bangkok but it seems to be expensive. I tried to look for used pianos but everyone I ask tell me there isn't a used piano market!

There are plenty of used (grey market) Yamahas to be had all over the place in Bangkok. Yamaha in Thailand seems to be cheaper than in Europe or the US new but European and American pianos are quite a bit more expensive over here. However, other used pianos are a bit harder to find and generally used piano including grey market seems to hold value more than those in the US or Europe. Peterson on Sukumvit Road has a big selections of grey market Yamaha upright and Grands as well as new Petrof, Schimmel, Bechstein and Sauter. I find their used stuffs to be a bit more expensive than other place though. Another good place for used Yamaha is ?MusicLand on Amarin Plaza (the old Sogo building) but they may have moved though!. There is also a Ritmuller dealer in there somewhere. Robinson at Discovery Center is always fun to visit if you have budget for Steinway or Bluthner. They also have Boston/Essex stuff. Central Department store is the main dealer for Kawai. Their big piano showroom is at Central Rama III, I believe. Amadeus Piano at Central World has Fazioli and Young Chang. I don't think they stock any 2nd hand piano but I might be wrong. Le Clavier on Pattanakarn Rd has some grey market Yamaha, new Grotrian, Schultze Pollman upright (price quite competitively with new Petrof and new Yamaha) and some Chinese pianos. Chulairat Piano school near Bangkapi area also has a selection of used uprights, mostly Japanese as well. Somebody told me about another place that carries a good selection of non Yamaha grey market Japanese piano somewhere near Ekamai but I never went there. My information is about a year old since that was the last time I went piano shopping!

If you are looking for used piano but not grey market, the options here are pretty limited. Some piano stores do have some on consignments but there are not a lot. Currently I know of one Fazioli F212 that the owner want to sell but that's about it.

I am not sure about the cost of the used F212. My piano tuner mentioned it to me. A new Fazioli 185 is listed around 3.7-3.8 million bahts, that's around $US110,000. There is a demo older F212 that the store rented out regularly and it can be had for somewhere around 2 millions bahts, I was told. Last time I checked, you should be able to get a grey market Yamaha U3 or something similar around 110,000-120,000 bahts, I think.

My piano tuner does travel around the country quite a bit. I am not sure about Khon Kaen but I could imagine that he may stop there once in awhile.

If you consider a Hailun, I would definitely check out Ritmuller (Pearl River) here in Bangkok since both are considered some of the better pianos from China. I believe there is 30% tax on imported piano. Also getting it out of custom will be a pain. Depending on your budget, a new Petrof or Schultze Pollman is around 300,000-350,000 bahts,

Ritmuller sounds like something to check out. I've got pricing on Hailun and Artmann. The Artmann is very reasonably priced. The Hailun is more expensive. But either one is significantly cheaper if I ship it in myself.

It would be better to hire a freight agent to handle the customs so I don't have potential problems there.

Grey market is basically used piano, mostly Yamaha imported in from Japan. For whatever reasons, there seemed to be plenty of used piano from Japan which nobody wanted to buy over there so many shops will import them. They may do some minor touch up job, mostly on the cabinetry before selling them. Usually most stores will have several to choose from. You can usually find some decent one among those. I forgot to mention that some of the piano stores such as Le Clavier and Churairat Music School also have their own house brand pianos made in China for similar price to what you are going to pay if you import it yourself.Many people will also recommend that you should not buy a piano sight unseen as each piano can be very different even when it is from the same assembly line.I saw Ritmuller at 2 places in Bangkok. The mian showrom is at Amarin Building across the street from Gaysorn Building, next to Erawan Hotel (Chidlom BTS station) and a smaller showroom at Fortune Town, 2nd or third floor at the hotel end (away from the computer/IT section).

Originally posted by dreamtime: Ok. I got it now. I understand about not wanting to buy a piano sight unseen. But if I have no other option that's what I might have to do.

I'll be in Bangkok in the next week and will check out the Ritmuller shop at Amarin.

I may also be at the NAMM show in Anaheim Jan 18th. If I get there I'll be able to check out all kinds of pianos. That should be fun.

Thanks for the information. [/b]

dreamtime,

NAMM is generally not open to the public.. If you are not connected to the musical instrument industry, you'll have to try to get a pass from a NAMM member ... Maybe a Thai piano dealer that is a NAMM member could get a visitor's pass for you ... Check out your options before you spend a lot of money to go to Anaheim and possibly not be able to get into the show.